20Cheka Headquarters
Lubyanka Square, Moscow
June 1918
Felix Dzerzhinsky continued with the paperwork on his desk. He had not left his office for four straight days. The Cheka, housed in the nine-story office building that served as the All-Russia Insurance Company building before the war, was located on Lubyanka Square. The place had already had become a dreaded nightmare to Moscow’s residents. One of the biggest fears of any Muscovite was to disappear into the notorious Lubyanka Prison located in the basement where torture and death were the only sure things that one would encounter. Already rumors circulated throughout Moscow that no one had ever left Lubyanka Prison, except in a coffin.
Dzerzhinsky’s workaholic tendencies were only worsened by his enthusiasm for his job. Sending pe
